Blake Lively’s family is all in this together.
Bart Johnson, Lively’s brother-in-law who played the “High School Musical” coach Jack Bolton, slammed her co-star and “It Ends with Us” director Justin Baldoni as a “fraud” with a “man bun” in a post on X (formerlu Twitter) Monday.
“He’s a fraud. He puts on the ‘costume’ of a hero, man bun and all. Used all of the trendy catchphrases & buzz words for his podcasts. None of it’s genuine. It’s all theater. And everyone fell for it. For years,” Johnson wrote. The actor, 54, is married to actress Robyn Lively, Blake’s half-sister.
The comments came after Blake filed a sexual harassment complaint with the California Department of Civil Rights against Baldoni, alleging inappropriate sexual conduct, which surfaced Saturday.
Johnson continued in the X post, telling fans to “rewatch his videos with a more critical eye and watch him compliment and praise himself with faux humility and self deprecation. What a performance.”
Lively’s lawyers claim Baldoni engaged in predatory behavior that was sexual in nature, writing in the complaint that she and other “It Ends With Us” cast and crew members “experienced invasive unwelcome, unprofessional and sexually inappropriate behavior.” It also claims that Baldoni worked with a crisis PR firm in an attempt to “destroy” her career.
The complaint also alleges that Baldoni colluded with his PR team to plant negative stories about the “Gossip Girl” alum after she came forward on set about his apparent behavior.
In a statement provided to The New York Times, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman called Lively’s allegations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media.” He said that Baldoni’s production company Wayfarer Studios “only responded to incoming media inquiries to ensure balanced and factual reporting and monitored social activity.”
When the film was released in early August, the rift between Lively and Baldoni derailed the “It Ends with Us” media tour. But it proved a success for Sony Pictures, earning $148.5 million at the box office.
The film’s plot centers around a florist (Lively), who falls in love with a neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) and reconnects with her childhood sweetheart played by Brandon Sklenar. Below the surface, the film grapples with disturbing patterns of domestic abuse.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blake Lively’s brother-in-law Bart Johnson slams Justin Baldoni
